Charlie Weis met with the media today and broke down this week’s opponent. It was a pretty nondescript press conference, and you know Washington State is struggling when Weis comes out of the chute with this one for his opener.

“One quarter they (Washington State) have had success in this year is they’ve won the third
quarter. And we’ve recently had some problems in the third quarter so
that will be one of my areas of concern in this game.”

The Cougars have been pretty abysmal this season, with their only win coming in overtime against SMU. Other than that, their closest defeat has been a 13-point loss to Arizona State. So something has to give this week: The Irish’s propensity to keep games close or the Cougars inability to do the same.

While the focus of the press conference usually is to discuss the opponent, the question and answer session was mostly Irish centric, which makes sense. Here are a few interesting tidbits:

* Robert Hughes and Armando Allen are full go, and Robby Parris is probably out. Weis said that everything checked out okay for Hughes after getting his bell rung at the goal line, so he’ll be back and practicing today. Allen’s ankle continues to nag him, but that’s the way ankle sprains go. On the other hand, Weis actually hoped to keep Parris out of Saturday’s game if at all possible.

“I would say doubtful. I’ll try my best for doubtful to be out this
week, You know, not the other way. I’ll try my best to not use him this week.”

I am glad Weis is keeping Parris off the field. A guy with his skill-set needs to get healthy, and this is a perfect week to get him back closer to 100 percent.

* The game in San Antonio gets categorized differently than a normal home game, and from a recruiting perspective, it’s treated differently as well. Weis was asked what the Irish can do from a recruiting perspective, especially with Texas being such a fertile area for football players.

“We appealed to the NCAA to try to get like a true home game, and the
concession is we can have recruits go to the game, we can give recruits
tickets to the game, but we can’t talk to them. We can get a
whole bunch of recruits from the state of Texas, and we have a bunch
coming, especially 2011’s. We have a bunch coming to the game, but we
can’t talk to them.”

It’s got to be a little disappointing for Weis that the NCAA wouldn’t let Notre Dame conduct business like this game was a true home game, but even if the coaches can’t talk with the recruits, it can’t hurt to get some elite young prospects from the state of Texas thinking about Notre Dame, especially before Longhorns coach Mack Brown can get to them. Weis even admitted as much.

“We spot recruit Texas. See Mack has that deal going, that junior
recruiting day, you know, where he looks down about half the state in
about the third week of February. Where he brings in those 25 guys and
says you take it now or you’re done and they all grow up wanting to go
to UT and you know that locks — most of them are going.”

* The subject of working in some younger players came up, and Weis was candid about trying to get some playing time for his younger offensive linemen. Playing games that come down to the final two minutes isn’t necessarily conducive to developing depth in your offensive line play.

“Since Nevada, you know, every game is right down to the last second of
the game. You know, at the offensive line position the last thing I
want do is sit there and take a sophomore and say, Okay, I want to put
you in for a few plays and see how you do, you know. The offensive line
you risk the quarterback getting killed. We’re going
travel a bunch of offensive linemen to the game, and we’d like to have
an opportunity to play a bunch of them, but, you know, the game has to
present itself in such a way where you can do that.”

With the veteran group that the Irish are playing right now, it’s going to be imperative that Weis finds an opportunity to get some guys like Matt Romine, Taylor Dever, and Andrew Nuss onto the field. You’ve got to think that’s going to be one of the talking points among coaches this week, putting the foot on Wazzou’s proverbial throat and getting this game lopsided in a hurry.

* In this week’s depth chart, Kyle McCarthy is listed as the starting free safety, with Sergio Brown listed as the starting strong safety. Harrison Smith has been relagated to the “or” Sam linebacker behind Darius Fleming. It’s kind of surprising to see McCarthy, who has made so many tackles around the line of scrimmage being called a free safety, but after hearing Weis talk about it, it’s more semantics than anything.

“You know, you always have high safeties and low
safeties and two-deep safeties. We have high safeties and low safeties,
normally semantically the guy who is deep is the free safety. And
normally the guy who has dropped down, semantically, is the strong
safety. That’s why when you got that depth chart it’s just based off
semantics.”

I’ve got to think this has to be a combination of Sergio Brown being one of the few Irish defenders to be good on the blitz, and Kyle being one of the more cerebral defensive backs for Notre Dame. If the Irish want to give up less explosive plays, they’ve got to make less mental breakdowns, and I think Weis is willing to give up McCarthy’s presence by the line of scrimmage in exchange for less big gains in the air.

(It also might say something about the play of a certain freshman linebacker from Hawaii.)

* It’s pretty clear this weekend is being looked at as a business trip from a football perspective. The Irish will arrive in San Antonio at 7:00 p.m. on Friday, will have a meal, go to chapel and that’s about it. Weis laughed off a question about whether or not the team will be visiting the Alamo, which I think is the exact attitude he and the coaching staff should take.

I know Notre Dame wants to make this a weekend full of events for the fans, but the last thing I’d want if I’m a player or coach is to be thrown off my weekly rhythm to participate in the barnstorming tour.

* Someone asked CW about his approach to 4th down and whether or not his philosophy had changed. Many people have noticed Weis has gone conservative a few more times this year, deciding to punt, kick a field goal, or play it safe.

“Yeah. There’s a bunch of times this year in plus territory where I punted the ball, and punted them back there.
The USC game comes to mind. It was a 13-7 game, I think that
was the score right before half-time, where we had a fourth down in
plus territory where in the past I wouldn’t have thought about going
for it and played more of a field position situation to make sure you
are sitting there at that same score at half-time. But sometimes I’ll become a little more conservative than I’ve been if the
past, yes.”

You can call that maturing as a head coach, trusting your field goal kicker, or not trusting your defense. I’ll call it a combo platter of all three.

If its defensive backfield was a concern this recruiting cycle, Notre Dame is putting together a strong finish to the class of 2018 to eradicate those worries. Consensus four-star Houston Griffith (IMG Academy; Bradenton, Fla.) became the second defensive back to commit to the Irish this week with his Tuesday evening declaration and the fifth of Notre Dame’s 19 (and counting) expected signees.

Griffith immediately becomes the most highly-rated commit in the Irish class. Rivals.com considers him the No. 3 safety in the class, the No. 9 player in Florida and the No. 35 overall prospect in the country. He had long been a Notre Dame target but initially committed to Florida State, partly due to the Irish struggles a year ago.

After Notre Dame showed much improvement this season — more specifically, its defensive shift — Griffith reopened his recruitment in late November.

“The changes that [Irish coach Brian Kelly] made really helped,” Griffith told Blue & Gold Illustrated. “The guys I know up there tell me it’s a different program, it’s a different team up there. Last season was a learning year and this year shows that they are starting to get all the pieces.”

Griffith has certainly bought in on the direction trending from 2016 to 2017.

“I feel like the next few years all the pieces are there to compete for a national championship.”

In addition to the Seminoles, Griffith held scholarship offers from the vast majority of college football’s powers, including Alabama, Michigan, Ohio State and USC.

He presents as a safety and seems to have been targeted as one, but he could also see early time at cornerback. In theory, a freshman may have a better chance of grasping that latter position. Then again, Notre Dame has a few established playmakers at cornerback; it very much does not have that luxury at safety.

Notre Dame’s running game stood little chance of exceeding expectations this season, considering how ambitious they were to start. This space’s preseason predictions, intended as a conservative and realistic harbinger of the months then-ahead, projected junior running back Josh Adams to gain 1,174 to 1,274 rushing yards this season. That upper limit would have placed Adams fourth in Irish program history, just ahead of his position coach’s 1,268 yards gained in 1997.

With a game to go, Adams stands only 51 yards of breaking Vagas Ferguson’s single-season record of 1,437 rushing yards, set back in 1979.

WHERE NOTRE DAME WAS
In addition to the anticipation regarding Adams’ third season as a contributor, the Notre Dame backfield had depth entering the season. Junior Dexter Williams could provide a speed threat while sophomore Tony Jones built on springtime buzz as a do-everything option, often described as the best receiver of the group.

Early-enrolled freshman C.J. Holmes’ shoulder injury in spring practice seemingly sidelined him for the season, opening the door for sophomore Deon McIntosh to move from receiver to the backfield as a rest-granting fourth-stringer.

WHERE NOTRE DAME IS
As good as the season was for the Irish on the ground, it will be marked by “What if” thoughts as much as anything else. What if Adams had not worn down as the season progressed? What if Williams had been healthy for more than a week or two in the season’s first two months?

Even with his figurative crawl to the season’s conclusion, Adams surpassed all preseason projections and expectations. It still must be noted he gained only 195 yards on 54 carries in the final three regular season games, a 3.61 average.

Williams, meanwhile, was limited throughout the year. At the beginning, specifically against Georgia, that appeared to be by coaching decisions, but for most of the season, ankle and quad ailments robbed the speedster of his primary quality.

Absolutely no one expected sophomore Deon McIntosh to be the second-leading rusher among Notre Dame’s running backs in 2017. Credit to McIntosh, though, for making the most of an opportunity granted by others’ injuries.(Photo by Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images)

Jones, when healthy, provided a schematic shift as much as any statistical production. Notre Dame offensive coordinator Chip Long clearly preferred Jones to be half of any two-back formation, due to Jones’ overall aptness.

McIntosh capitalized on every chance granted him, providing fourth-quarter rest to those limping from sprained ankles whenever the Irish had a worthwhile lead.

STATISTICALLY SPEAKING
Some of a statistical influx in rushing production should be credited to junior quarterback Brandon Wimbush, but the ground game as a whole was more successful in 2017 than it was a year ago no matter how the numbers are dissected.

COMING QUESTIONSWill Adams stay for his senior year and further his assault on the Notre Dame record books or will he head to the NFL Draft with a year of collegiate eligibility remaining? He very much should take the latter option. Running backs’ careers are not long due to the very nature of the position. For the second year in a row, that wear and tear proved itself on Adams. There is little chance he could put together an even better season in 2018.

Thus, this is his chance to go in the Draft’s first couple rounds. By every reasoning, Adams should take this opportunity.

When utilized, junior running back Dexter Williams has proven to be a viable threat for Notre Dame. He has not always been incorporated into the game plan, though, partly due to classmate Josh Adams’ rampant success. (Photo by Leon Halip/Getty Images)

At that point, will Long be able to incorporate Williams into the two-back set? Those multiple running back formations were some of the most productive looks for the Irish offense, and they almost entirely came with Jones joining Adams. Between pass-catching and pass-blocking, Williams lagged behind those two significantly. For the threats presented in a two-back alignment to be real, though, he will need to broaden his skillset appropriately.

If Williams doesn’t, could a healthy Holmes plug into the system? As much praise as McIntosh received, and earned, this season, he will never be the answer in the Notre Dame backfield. Holmes may be.

With Wimbush again the presumed starter in 2018, the ground game will be featured for another fall. The offensive line is (almost certainly) losing two first-round Draft picks, but it has enough experience to hold its own moving forward. Which back emerges as the workhorse if Adams turns pro could be the biggest offensive question all spring and summer. Williams may present the most big-play potential, but Jones has already shown greater consistency overall.

Hardly a week shy of the early signing period, Notre Dame doubled its cornerback haul in the class of 2018 with Tariq Bracy’s commitment Sunday night.

A rivals.com three-star recruit, Bracy (Milpitas High School, Calif.) had long said the Irish led in his recruitment, having visited campus for Notre Dame’s 49-14 victory over USC on Oct. 21. Rivals rates Bracy as the No. 65 overall prospect in California.

“The coaches, they made me feel welcome,” Bracy said to Blue & Gold Illustrated. “They really wanted me to go down there. They like my skillset. The players, they were welcoming, too. It’s really the whole atmosphere about Notre Dame, and the academics, too.”

Bracy opted for the Irish over a number of schools on the west coast, including Utah, Cal and Washington State.

Notre Dame now has 18 commitments in the class, including consensus-three star cornerback Joseph Wilkins (North Fort Myers H.S., Fla.). All 18 are expected to sign National Letters of Intent during the inaugural early signing period Dec. 20-22. For that matter, it remains possible an additional commitment or two could join those ranks either before the three-day stretch or in the midst of it.

Irish coach Brian Kelly has said he would evaluate any commitment not signing during the December dates as not being genuinely committed to Notre Dame, still needing further recruitment.

— Bracy’s, and Wilkins’, commitment holds more value for the Irish than many of the other 16 in the class thus far. In the last recruiting cycle, Notre Dame failed to sign so much as one cornerback.

Neither Bracy nor Wilkins may start in 2018. They, in fact, almost certainly will not, but they will provide both depth and a possibility of a future at the position.

— Just as another reminder — it is listed twice on the legal pad providing today’s outline, after all — the early signing period runs from Dec. 20 to Dec. 22. There will still be a nationwide focus on National Signing Day, Feb. 7, as any recruits not yet signed will have even more of a share of the spotlight.

— Bowl games have little long-term evaluatory value. They do, however, provide a delightful stretch of mid-day and/or mid-week December distractions. As an example, consider the game-a-day outlook on the horizon …

Notre Dame spent Friday night giving out awards to recognize 2017’s top players, but the night’s attention went to two pieces of news received regarding next season. Both linebacker Drue Tranquill and tight end Nic Weishar announced intentions to return for fifth seasons in 2018.

Tranquill especially seemed increasingly unlikely to return after a career season and a two-year stretch of health set him up for NFL consideration. The idea of what could have been, of what could be, proved too much for him to bypass his remaining season of collegiate eligibility.

“I think it started after the Miami game, just on the busses, realized that we probably weren’t going to make the College Playoff anymore and realized everything everyone had put into this thing,” Tranquill told Irish Illustrated. “I felt I owed it to this team in my heart to come back and finish what we started.”

Tranquill’s return will stymie what could have been a decimating linebacker exodus. Senior captains Nyles Morgan and Greer Martini are both out of eligibility. If Tranquill had joined them in pursuing an NFL future this spring, Notre Dame would have lost three of its top four tacklers, and perhaps all four. Leading tackler, junior linebacker Te’von Coney and his 99 takedowns including 13 for loss and three sacks, is still considering an early entry into the NFL Draft.

Weishar’s return will provide a baseline at tight end following the departure of current fifth-year Durham Smythe.

Along the lines of Tranquill’s and Weishar’s returns, only a couple of Friday night’s awards portend future developments. Freshman offensive lineman Dillan Gibbons performed well enough behind the scenes to claim Offensive Scout Team Player of the Year. With Nelson presumably heading to the NFL, Gibbons could insert himself into the competition to fill the left guard spot.

Sophomore safety Alohi Gilman spent the season following his transfer from Navy leading the scout defense. His success there only furthers the likelihood he will be starting in the defensive backfield when Michigan arrives at Notre Dame Stadium on Sept. 1.

With few surprises — perhaps naming junior quarterback Brandon Wimbush and senior defensive lineman Jonathan Bonner the offensive and defensive newcomers of the year, respectively, was too obvious to be widely-considered beforehand — the full listing of the awards …